1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to a USB connector with locking/unlocking means for detachably mating with a complementary connector.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional USB (Universal Serial Bus) connector for mating with a mating connector is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,902,432. The USB connector 10 comprises a jack 15 mating with a plug 40. The jack 15 comprises a shield shell 16 and a plurality of jack terminals 35 mounted in the shield shell 16. The plug 40 includes a shield case 41 and a plurality of plug terminals fitted into the shield shell 16 for electrically connecting with the jack terminals 35. The shield shell comprises an upper wall 16a, a tongue piece 18 protruding downwardly from the upper wall 16a, and a pair of contact portions 19 symmetrically formed on both sides of the tongue piece 18. A U-shaped groove 20 is defined by punching along a ridge line of each contact portion 19 between the contact portion 19 and the upper wall 16a. The shield case 41 has a depression 45 defined on an upper surface thereof for receiving the tongue piece 18. A pair of claws 51 protrude upwardly from the upper surface of the shield case 41 for engaging with the grooves 20 when the plug 40 is inserted into the jack 15.
The plug 40 would be firmly fitted in the jack 15 due to the engagement among the tongue piece 18 and the depression 45, the claws 51 and the grooves 20. However, there is no locking/unlocking means, and the claws 51 of the plug 40 could not be depressed downwardly to escape from the grooves 20 easily, therefore, the plug 40 is hard to be pulled out from the jack 15. The structure is easy to be damaged when an excessive force is exerted thereon for pulling the plug 40 out of the jack 15.
With development of a digital camera or the likes in which a USB connector is always employed, an improved USB connector is appeared. The connector has a longer mating portion compared to the conventional connector and thus, it is much harder to pull a complementary connector out due to the long length of the mating portion thereof.
Hence, an improved USB connector having a locking/unlocking means is required to overcome the disadvantages of the related art.